Stone. Louis – In a vacuum, the Giants made an acceptable road trip. They threw the rubber game to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Sunday, but with the Colorado Rockies they will beat two losses with four wins.
Giants do not exist in a vacuum. The remaining 19 games and a 72-71 record are not enough. They had a chance to get close to the final NL wildcard position in St. Louis, but Saturday’s walk loss combined with Sunday’s 4-3 loss put them behind the New York Mets’ four games.
Now, they’re entering the most important home of the season: three games against the surge in Arizona Diamondbacks, who are working for the final wildcard seat, while three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they’re clinging to the division’s lead.
San Francisco has recovered its playoff hopes over the past two and a half weeks, even though three games were thrown to the Cardinals, winning 11 of the last 15 games. A good home will keep the Giants hunting, especially when the Mets continue to trip. A bad home might see their playoff odds closer to zero.
Kai-wei Teng and Sonny Gray traded zero in the first four innings, but St. Louis made four points at the bottom of the fifth inning when Teng suddenly lost command.
Right-handed walks through the Cardinal’s seven, eight and nine batsmen – Jordan Walker, Nathan Church, Jose Fermien – and sets tables for the top of the order. Lars Nootbaar’s RBI single broke the scoreless draw, eliminating Teng in the process.
Right-handed rescuer José Buttó was unable to stop the Cardinal from filling the lead, thus allowing all three successor runners to score. By the end of the frame, St. Louis led 4-0, and San Francisco had no record success. Teng allowed four runs in four innings, and eight strikeouts and five walks.
At the top of the sixth place, the Giants finally got a response. Grey started the game by walking Drew Gilbert and Knizner, holding a rally to San Francisco. After the strikeout by Heliot Ramos, Rafael Devers recorded the Giants’ first hit percentage, which drove the car at Gilbert and cut the deficit to 4-1.
Willy Adames walks to load the base and Dominic Smith shoots out on his own base single in the second game of the inning, eliminating Gray in the process.
The Giants were in one game when Matt Chapman opened the car with a single against rescuer Matt Svanson, but Svanson held the Cardinal’s 4-3 lead with retired Jung Hoo Lee and Casey Schmitt.
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